Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel analogues of gastrin. In particular, this invention relates to a series of peptide analogues, modified at the N- and C- terminals, which act as potent and specific antagonists of gastrin-stimulated acid secretion.
Overproduction of gastrin has been identified as a significant, and often causative biological event in a variety of pathological disorders such as gastrinoma, antral G-cell hyperplasia, ulcer disease, pernicious anemia, and atrophic gastritis. Therefore, an effective gastrin antagonist, that is, a compound which inhibits the actions of endogenous gastrin, would be a useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of such gastrin-related conditions. Furthermore, such an antagonist, when modified to contain a physicochemically detectable group or moiety, would be useful for the detection of gastrin, quantitatively or qualitatively, for prognostic or diagnostic purposes where the binding of gastrin to receptors is biologically significant.
It is principal object of this invention to provide a novel class of potent gastrin antagonists. Another object is to provide novel probes for the detection of gastrin.